Nikki
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Nikki Haley’s Pathway to a Competitive Race with Trump Is Now Visible
CBS News/YouGov’s poll of Iowans is consistent with recent surveys that suggest the race is slipping away from Ron DeSantis. At 58 percent, Donald Trump maintains a commanding lead over his opponents. DeSantis trails with 22 percent, with Nikki Haley at 13 percent. But much of Trump’s support in Iowa is still soft support.
Among Iowa Republicans, 30 percent consider themselves “only Trump” Republicans. We can reasonably deduce that those 30 percent of “only Trump” voters contribute to Trump’s 58 percent, which suggests about half of Trump backers are still among the 45 percent of Iowa Republicans considering “Trump and other candidates.” If, on caucus night, Trump underperforms his prohibitive performance in the polls, it invites a news cycle focused not on Trump’s strength as a candidate but on his hidden weaknesses.
That news cycle would dog Trump over the eight-day interim between Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary election. There, CBS News/YouGov found Haley surging. The former South Carolina governor’s support jumped by 18 points from September to 29 percent, while Trump’s declined by six points from 50 to 44 percent. Only one-third of Republicans in the Granite State say they’re not considering a vote for Haley, compared with 37 percent who say the same of the former president. Moreover, a majority of New Hampshire Republicans describe Haley as “likable,” suggesting room for growth if the ball bounces against Trump in Iowa.
There’s a ceiling on Haley’s support in New Hampshire in the form of Chris Christie, who still draws 10 percent of the vote. If the former New Jersey governor took National Review’s advice and abandoned his one-state presidential campaign before January 23, though, it’s likely that most of his voters would gravitate to Haley’s column. A strong performance by Haley — or even an outright victory — in New Hampshire would set the table for a fateful month to follow.
It’s necessary at this stage to restate the disclaimer: None of this is especially likely to happen. The polling suggests that Republican voters affirmatively like Trump. If they believe what they’re telling pollsters, the GOP believes the former president is a lock to beat Biden next November. They think Trump got a raw deal in 2020 and throughout his first term, and they want to see him vindicated. But among many Republicans, these are loosely held convictions. The qualms they’re quietly nursing could become something more threatening to the former president’s position if he is revealed to be weaker at the ballot box than public polling has indicated.
What is undeniable is that a scenario in which Haley runs competitively with Trump is easier to envision today than at any point in the 2024 cycle. You still have to squint to see her pathway to victory. But for the first time in this race, the outlines of that result are visible.
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I don’t think you could be a republican politician in South Carolina without adopting some form of the virgin birth theory of the Confederacy.
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Oof, oof...
"I was hacked!"
Or something like that.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/28/nikki-haley-civil-war-comments-response-00133268
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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There's no good answer to her critics other than to say, "Look, I effed up. Here's what I should have said."
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Her answer should have been “Mike Pence certifying the results on January… Oh, you mean the first one?”
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There's no good answer to her critics other than to say, "Look, I effed up. Here's what I should have said."
There's no good answer to her critics other than to say, "Look, I effed up. Here's what I should have said."
The right answer causes no political damage. Strange slip for her. But then this is the woman who openly fantasized about an internet without anonymity. She may have any number of odd things rolling around her head.
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Oof, oof...
"I was hacked!"
Or something like that.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/28/nikki-haley-civil-war-comments-response-00133268
Oof, oof...
"I was hacked!"
Or something like that.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/28/nikki-haley-civil-war-comments-response-00133268
She's blaming the person who asked the question for the fact that she couldn't answer it.
She must have been a riot at college.
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There's no good answer to her critics other than to say, "Look, I effed up. Here's what I should have said."
There's no good answer to her critics other than to say, "Look, I effed up. Here's what I should have said."
Yes, of course.
The critics will ignore the new and improved answer.
The supporters will forget the original.
If she gets the nomination she will beat Mr. Biden easily.
And the Civil War debate will carry on forever and ever.
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This is a tempest in a teapot. It was a stupid question , intended to trip her up and utterly irrelevant to the US today.
